From Ashes
by A Slayer In The TARDIS
Summary: At a time when help is hard to come by, the Argents seek the assistance of the one supernatural being they could ever trust - the Slayer. When Madeline Hayes shows up, things go from bad to worse as she stumbles upon Scott and Stiles and the mystery of why a town with so much mystical energy is not a breeding ground for the most sinister monstrosity of all - the vampire. Stiles/OC
1. Prologue

**_From Ashes_  
by A Slayer In The TARDIS**

**Full Summary: **

_[Set in Mid - Season One]_

With the possibility of two betas and a murderous Alpha werewolf, not to mention a possibly out of control sister, Chris Argent is running out of options. At a time when help is hard to come by for the Argents, he contacts something called the Watcher's Council for the help of the one supernatural being they could ever trust - the Slayer. Of course, now that there's a whole army of them, the odds of a wild card are more than likely.

They send an extremely abrasive sixteen year old, Madeline Hayes, on assignment to Beacon Hills to help the Argents and hunt down the wolves while keeping Allison out of harm's way - as well as out of the loop. Along the way, things go from bad to worse as she stumbles upon Scott and Stiles and the mystery of why a town with so much mystical energy is not a breeding ground for the most sinister monstrosity of all - the vampire.

* * *

**Prologue  
**

_Once upon a time..._

_That's how these things begin, right? That's how old men in ancient villages would pass along fairy tales - stories of big, burly men rescuing helpless damsels from evil monsters._

_That's not exactly how I was raised, though. If you can call it that._

_In my world, women wield swords and monsters aren't always evil. In fact, sometimes the evil you must fight belongs to those closest to you - maybe even yourself._

_In my world, fairy tales don't exist and what you, my friend, might consider myth, I might consider a harsh reality. I'm here to tell you a tale of deception, horror, and mystery - the story of how my life began in a strange little California town. It's really up to you whether you believe it or not._

_Either way, fact or fiction, every story has a beginning. Mine started with a bit of a cliche: the hunter and the big, bad wolf._

* * *

His pace didn't slow when he entered the living room until he came to a complete halt at the side table by the couch where the phone was set. He roughly picked up the receiver and was about to hit the first number when his wife entered the room, horror in her intense gaze. "Chris, what do you think you're doing?"

"Using our last resort," was his short and equally gruff response.

Victoria's throat tightened and she shook her head furiously. "No. No, you can't mean...!"

"What choice do we have?!" He looked up from the phone to his wife, his own stare burning intently into hers. "There is an Alpha tearing through this town! If those betas join its pack, we will not have the strength to stop them. You _know_ that."

"But you _can't _rely on help from..._them_. Yes, the council kept them in line once upon a time but they are _gone_!" There was a pain in her voice Chris hadn't heard in years and let out a frustrated sigh as he looked away, almost ashamed. The redheaded woman clenched her jaw before speaking again. "They're just as dangerous as the wolves now. Maybe _more_. There has to be another way. You _cannot_ do this!"

His resolve returning at full force, he looked back at her with a hardened stare."I'm sorry. If you can think of another way, fine. But it's been ten years now. If we can't trust a god damn vampire slayer, who _can_ we trust?"

_To Be Continued._

**A/N: Alrighty! So...yeah. This is technically a crossover with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. BUT if you have not seen the show, don't worry! It's not a required thing. Thus it is not listed under crossovers. I have a few chapters already done so please tell me what you think. Or else I probably won't update too much. This is actually unnaturally short for me, so look forward too way longer chapters very soon!**


	2. Chapter One: The Mission

_**From Ashes**_

**Chapter One: ****The Mission**

* * *

"Say it."

"No."

"You have to."

"It's stupid. _She_ knows it's stupid and _you_ know it's stupid."

"It's not stupid but even if it was - which it _isn't_, might I add - you have to say it anyway."

"But – !"

"Hayes, it's our code." Off of her raised eyebrow, he continued, "Okay, _your_ code. Not really my code. Well, sort of my code. Anyway – we can't let you leave until you say the code."

"It's a reworded, outdated legend. Not a code." She crossed her arms. "And when the hell did that become a rule?"

"Around the time there became about three thousand of you."

She stayed silent and simply blinked at the older man.

His shoulders slumped. "Your capacity for jokes and witty comebacks is on point as usual."

The teenager, in a huff, folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "...into every generation, slayers are born. The chosen. We alone have the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, demons, and forces of darkness. To stop the spread of their evil and swell of their numbers."

"And that, my young padawan, is the end of your training," the man replied with a triumphant grin.

"Cool beans. Now that I'm done feeding my absentee leader's ego, can I get out of here?" She looked up at the one eyed man whose demeanor stayed friendly regardless of her bad attitude and frowned. "...I'm doing that thing again, aren't I?"

"It's alright, kid."

"But, Mister Harris, I-"

He offered his hand with an understanding smile. "I know, Maddie."

She silently nodded and firmly took the hand. Another few seconds and she let go, reaching for her bags as a lump formed in her throat. "So...why _couldn't_ she be here?"

The man's smile faltered. "It's complicated. She, ah...She sends her best."

Maddie looked down and nodded again. "Right."

"She wishes she could be here."

"Sure, yeah. It's fine." She swallowed hard and have him a guarded look. "Give her my best in return. And probably make it sound like I meant it, okay?"

The girl lifted her duffel and started toward to cab quietly. Her footsteps paused and she turned to older man, fear in her eyes for the first time in what felt like a very long time. "I know I have to do this alone but, um... Does this mean...are you still my Watcher?"

Mister Harris smiled. "Yeah, Mads. And I'm just a call away."

She nodded curtly and quickly turned back to the cab, tears stinging her eyes as she shoved her bag in the back. The young girl made haste as she got in and did well not to look back. Instead, Madeline dug through her bag and pulled out the picture she'd been given; it was of a small family gathered together in a brightly lit room. There was a middle aged man with a cold stare even as he smiled for the camera; a middle aged woman with short red hair, unfeeling blue eyes, and a frown that lined her mouth as she stood there like a proud lion. Then there was the girl; the daughter is what looked so out of place in the photo. Her long dark hair hung from her shoulders in loose curls and she wore a wide, carefree smile that managed to even reach her warm, brown eyes which held nothing but happiness. Maddie scoffed, slightly angered by the bitterness in her own voice. The girl...she must not know what was really going on. The slayer turned over the picture to find a neatly displayed list.

**_Alpha_**_- has taken lives, capture and, if necessary, use lethal force._

**_Betas_**_- unknown if has taken lives, capture, question. Do not kill._

_Guard the girl. She attends Beacon Hills High School. You'll be doing the same. You know the drill. Don't reveal yourself._

_Keep patrolling regiment. No other unexplained deaths have been reported. Better safe than sorry._

_Once the problem is taken care of, report to HQ._

_- BS_

_Such appropriate initials._ She finally took the chance to look up from the note as she smelled something sour in the air. She couldn't quite tell what it was but it certainly gave the smell of rotting corpses a run for their money. Her nose wrinkled in disgust and her eyes darted over to the portly cab driver. "Your car smells," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Hey, you're not exactly a field of fresh daisies yourself, princess." He glared at her through his rear view mirror and shook his head.

She eyed him a bit longer. "I'm confused. What does my lack of similarities with an open field have to do with the awful quality of your car?"

"That's it, missy." His frown deepened and his face began to turn a bright shade of red. "One more word and I pull over right freakin' here."

Maddie sighed quietly to herself and put the photo back in her bag. This would prove to be a very interesting trip, indeed.

* * *

He had nearly stumbled out of pure shock as he went to sit on Allison's bed - but, to be honest, that was probably an appropriate reaction on his part.

"Weird? Weird, how?" The words managed to escape Scott's throat the moment Allison mentioned the word weird - or, more specifically, the word 'weird' after the words 'my family's been acting'. The Argents put him on edge to begin with, but if they were acting stranger than normal, there was definitely something up.

Allison, though, was taken aback by how quickly her boyfriend answered. There was a panic he was attempting to hide in his voice and as she'd learned in the past, he wasn't a very good liar. "Just...weird. Not talking when I walk in a room. Giving each other these really strange looks. You know, the stuff they usually do, just..._more_." She let out a small laugh at the end to ease the tension. Although, when Scott didn't immediately reply, the corners of her lips tugged downward. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" he asked the last part genuinely. Things were getting increasingly strange in Allison's life and Scott could tell. It was probably much more difficult for her family to keep their secret from her than it was for him. A pang of guilt struck him at that.

She looked down at the pendant around her neck and sighed. "Yeah, it's fine… I just wish they would stop treating me like I'm this fragile, little doll. I can handle the truth."

Could she? Scott shook the thought away. "Yeah, totally." He paused for a moment, deciding quickly on the right way to word what he would say next. "You know, maybe it's just something dangerous. They may not want you to get hurt."

"Dangerous? Right." She laughed again. "Maybe my family's part of the mafia or something. My dad probably shouldn't be selling guns if that was the case, though."

He forced a laugh at that. "But that's the perfect cover! No one would be the wiser."

Allison let a chuckle escape her. "Yeah, maybe. But seriously..." She sighed and bit down on her lip. "It feels like they're, I don't know...waiting for something."

Scott's eyebrows furrowed as his stomach coiled painfully. "...like what?"

"I don't know yet," she replied, her voice becoming increasingly worried, "but with the way they're acting, it can't be anything good." She glanced over at Scott, noting his worried expression. Scooting closer to him, she gave him a gentle, reassuring smile and touched his shoulder. "Sorry. I didn't actually invite you over to talk about my crazy family. You came over to … _study_."

There was an emphasis on study that he immediately picked up on and he grinned, though something hung there in his thoughts. You have to stay away from Allison. That's what Derek had said - and he had promised he would. Yet, here he was in her bedroom for less than what his 'mentor' would see as noble reasons. All the while, as she looked at him the way she always did, it didn't matter. _What's the harm?_ was the only thought that repeated in his head and clung to him as he moved closer to her.

_...what's the harm?_

* * *

_The ground was soft and moist beneath her bare feet as she walked carefully into the forest. A warm breeze tousled her hair slightly and the full moon shined down brightly on her. She blinked then. The full moon. That meant something, didn't it? She gazed up at it curiously and gasped. The moon was terrifyingly massive; it almost took up a third of the whole night sky. She felt that it was hanging so low to her that she could almost touch it. Her fingered twitched at her side. What if…? She raised her hand slowly and shakily into the sky, reaching for the moon._

_That's when she heard it._

_A howl._

_It was so sudden and so loud that her outstretched arm stopped completely. She instantaneously turned in the direction she'd heard the mournful sound from. Mournful? Is that how she would describe it? Lonely, even? Whatever it was, she decided to walk towards it. Dead leaves crunched beneath her feet as she neared the recurring sound. No. No, not one sound. There were several now and the sound had become deafening. Her breath caught at that moment and she stopped in her tracks._

_She closed her eyes and took a deep breath._

_The howling stopped._

_Her eyes snapped open to a horrifying scene. Bodies. Bloodied, severed, and moving. Halved bodies moving towards her, reaching for her with pale, clawed fingers. She took a step back, checking her pockets for something - anything - she could use to defend herself. Nothing. They were getting closer._

_In a moment of sheer terror, she turned on her heel and sprinted. The howling started once again. The forest was becoming denser._

_"MADDIE!"_

_A voice rang out amongst the howling, close and etched with fear. Her pace quickened and her breathing became more ragged as she swerved around the trees. She felt her arm brush painfully with something sharp. A broken branch, maybe? She didn't have time to stop and check._

_"MADDIE!"_

_Out of her peripheral, she noted the sky had brightened. She glanced upwards, finding the moon had grown larger, gotten closer. Her heart raced and her eyes went forward again, causing her to come to an instant and unsteady halt. The howling grew louder behind her. She glanced down at her arm, where an open gash was now bleeding profusely. As her breathing slowed, her head snapped up again. The woods had ended. In front of her was an wide open field with grass reaching as far as the eye could see. That wasn't what caused her breath to catch._

_Several feet from her were two figures - one larger one holding the other in the air by the neck. The one on the ground had the deformed visage of what she clearly could tell was a vampire. The other seemed to be shadowed._

_The vampire smiled and broke the shadowed figures neck instantly._

_"No!" Maddie shouted, but realized she couldn't move. She was being held tightly. Suddenly, the noise behind her had turned from howling to something much closer. Breathing - low, heavy breathing right next to her ear. There was a growl._

_A large, clawed hand slid around her neck. The beast chuckled menacingly in her ear. "Time's up," it muttered coldly._

_The hand tightened._

Maddie's eyes shot open as she took a sharp, gasping breath in. As her gaze adjusted to the dark, she looked around. Her bags were piled in the corner and the clock next to her read **4:17 AM.**

She sighed heavily as her eyes made their way to the ceiling. Twelve hours before, she'd been on a bus from San Francisco. She'd successfully made it to the bus stop in the cab with no further issues. The bus trip went smoothly as well, due to the lack of people. Now, she laid in her stiff bed in a Beacon Hills motel room that smelled almost as bad as the cab from earlier_. Karma, maybe?_ She shook her head at the idea and closed her eyes.

This was her new base of operations, her new home - if she could call it that. _And today…_ She groaned quietly and turned over.

Today she'd be starting a new terrifying mission.

Today… she was starting high school.

* * *

**Author's Notes: So I didn't really count on so much support so soon! In return, here's chapter one! To the Buffy fans, this is not the last of the cameos. To everyone, let me know whatcha think!**


	3. Chapter Two: Weird

**Chapter Two: Weird**

* * *

"Still not talking to me?"

Scott immediately noted the prolonged, icy silence coming from his best friend. This had been an ongoing trend since parent-teacher night and with good reason - Stiles' dad had gotten hurt. Scott knew that any silent treatment or punishment thereafter he deserved for not being there that night. All the while, he knew he needed to talk to someone and that someone was always his best friend. It'd only been a few days and this silence was already killing him. Guilt and concern etched on his face, he sighed. "Okay, can you at least tell me if your dad's okay? It's just a bruise, right?"

He regretted even saying it and yet he still couldn't help but fill the silence. "Some soft tissue damage?" Even his thoughts were scolding him now as he sheepishly muttered out, "...nothing that big…"

Nothing. Not a glare. Not an angry remark. It felt as if a large weight had crashed into his stomach. Of course, the only way to remedy it was to get Stiles at least talking to him - a feat Scott was failing at miserably. He lowered his head and shook it as another uncomfortable pause engulfed them. Lifting his head back up, he was again met with the back of his friend's buzzcut before he decided to speak once more. "...You know I feel really bad about it, right?"

And again, not a word passed from Stiles. Unable to find another way to apologize, he opted for breaking the ice with some news. "Okay...what if I told you that I'm trying to figure this whole thing out and..." The uneasiness in his stomach grew once again and he lowered his voice. "...that I went to _Derek _for help?"

Scott then heard a loud, annoyed sigh come from Stiles to his relief. Stiles, on the other hand, couldn't hold his thoughts on the matter in, which happened to annoy him further. "If I was talking to you, I'd say that you're an _idiot _for trusting him." There was a slight pause again before he spoke again. "But obviously I'm not talking to you."

The bell sounded above their heads, followed by a silence that - funny enough - was now unnerving Stiles. Questions had begun buzzing around his head as he imagined what horrible advice the older, much less pleasant werewolf had given Scott. Seconds ticked away, eating at him before he quickly spun around in his chair. "What did he say?"

Scott smiled at his friend and was about to speak when the door to the classroom abruptly interrupted him. Both Scott and Stiles' attention was brought to the forefront of the room, as was everyone else's for the time being.

The principal had entered the room but not alone. As he went over to quietly speak to the teacher, a petite girl seemed to step out from behind him. Her skin was a light caramel and her long, almost unnaturally auburn hair fell onto her shoulders in waves, framing a delicate face that looked around the room quite curiously. Her clothes were simple, clearly more for comfort than for school - a black, long sleeve top, worn blue jeans, and a silver necklace that was tucked under her shirt. She gripped her books tighter as she examined every face in the room and tapped her shiny, Doc Marten clad feet impatiently.

"Class…" the teacher began in a less than enthused tone as he stood and the principal took his inaudible leave. He stood behind the girl with a flat look. "Please welcome your new classmate, Madeline Hayes."

The was an uncomfortable silence that filled the room as every pair of eyes were set on Madeline. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth remained expressionless as the moment painfully stretched on.

"Well?" the teacher prodded, giving her his own expectant stare.

She looked over at the very wide, very red man, mouth now hung open. What was she expected to do? Her gaze turned back toward the class and her mouth clamped shut. Her grip on her books loosened and she lifted up one hand, giving a slight wave. "Yep. I'm new."

The was a slight murmur of giggles rising up from the students. The large, red man tapped her shoulder and pointed to an empty desk at the far end of the room. "_Well_, take your seat. You can introduce yourself on your own time."

Thoroughly taken aback by the older man, she frowned. "You don't have to be rude."

More giggling sounded around the room. The man became slightly redder. "Sit," he commanded in a loud voice, almost making Maddie jump.

"Fine," she added almost mockingly and just loud enough for the room to hear before she swerved around a few desks to the lone empty one. The teacher had started to speak before she even dropped her books on her desk and her backpack on the floor. As she sat down in the cold, metallic seat, she quickly dug in her bag for a pencil and paper. All the while, she didn't notice there were still two set of curious eyes on her - that is until she noticed them out of her peripheral vision.

She slowly turned her head toward them, finding a tanned boy with dark eyes and thick hair sitting diagonally from her. Her eyes flicked over to the one sitting next to her - a pale, lanky boy with very short, brown hair. They both proceeded to give her strange looks, which did nothing but irritate her.

"What?" she whispered harshly, causing the two to shrug defensively and turn back to each other.

What she managed to hear a few seconds later was one of the boys muttering, "I'll tell you after class."

Maddie paid it no mind and instead of taking notes, turned to the wall of windows and up at the cloudy sky. Her dream drifted back into her thoughts, sending a chill down her spine. It was less than a week until the full moon and her senses were telling her it wouldn't be an ordinary night.

* * *

_This should have been a lot easier._ That was the thought that kept floating through Maddie's head as she walked down the hallway to the cafeteria. _This should have been much, much easier._ In the eight years that she'd been a vampire slayer, her 'mentors' made no real mention of their high school experience. Miss Lehane - a name the older woman hated going by - didn't seem to have a high school experience at all due to her altogether rough upbringing, which was entirely understandable. On the other hand, Miss Summers seemed to have different motives on the subject altogether. She, Mister Harris, and the few times Miss Rosenberg - their resident authority on magic - stopped by, they made inside jokes but never really delved into their pasts around the slayers in training. So, this mission in particular would in fact be very difficult.

Madeline grumbled under her breath and entered the large room. Throngs of teenagers filed in and out, chatting and laughing. It seemed a bit like the mess hall from the training grounds in Scotland, only much friendlier and far less strict. She'd been a bit hungry but the smell of the food being served seemed to curb her appetite altogether. That wasn't what she was there for anyway; she wasn't there at all to simply be a student. Maddie sighed and gave herself a moment to strengthen her resolve. _I'm a Slayer. I protect people. I'm **here **to protect people._

Her eyes scanned around the room, analyzing the faces more closely now. She spotted a few of her classmates from earlier that day, including the two strange boys from her first period History class. Speaking of, they seemed to be getting stranger by the minute as she noticed one of them ducking behind a textbook. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion but let it go fairly quickly when she followed the boy's gaze. Maddie's eyes lit up instantly as she was met with the sight of the girl from the photo she'd been given. Allison Argent.

Now, this would be the tough part. Seeing as she'd spent half of her life with the same group of girls, she'd had no reason to go out and make new friends. It was tough enough to do that without being a supernatural being. Madeline slowly made her way over to the mostly vacant table, threading together a lie in her head before she got there.

She stopped at the table where a fair girl with strawberry blonde hair continued prattling on about something. Of course, when the girl looked up, she gave Maddie an expectant stare. Allison, who sat across the table from the girl, looked behind her, following her friend's annoyed stare.

Maddie took a breath and forced a smile. "Hi, ah…" Be polite, she reminded herself quickly. "Sorry to interrupt but there were no other tables available."

"Erm, no, it's no problem!" Allison replied a bit awkwardly. She glanced back at her friend who gave her a shocked look and subtly shook her head. Allison, having already extended the greeting, smiled over at the strawberry blonde. "Right?"

The girl, clearly put on the spot by her friend, cocked her head to the side and forced her own smile. She held out a hand toward an empty chair, reluctantly obliging the request in silence. Madeline uneasily nodded and took a seat. The two other girls, looked at her expectantly, obviously waiting for her to say something. She looked up at them blankly after setting down her things. There was a short pause before Maddie's eyes widened. "Oh! I'm Madeline. I'm new."

Allison smiled a toothy genuine smile. "Really? Me too!" She gave a quiet, sheepish laugh. "Well, okay, not _as_ new, but new."

Maddie forced her own laugh, although she wasn't quite sure why she was laughing. It seemed to be the best social response though.

"I'm Allison, by the way," the brunette added offhandedly. She pointed to the other girl who didn't seem quite as enthused. "This is Lydia."

"So. Sophomore?" The question was blunt and somewhat impolite, but Lydia didn't seem to care.

Maddie actually seemed to prefer this to the fake smile though. She nodded shortly. "Yeah. Um, I was actually wondering…" She reached in her bag, sifting through the contents - including her emergency hand axe but she did well not to let people see that - and pulled out a piece of paper. She wasn't used to thinking on her feet in anything but battle so this was probably the flimsiest thing she could come up with. "Do either of you know where Mister...Finstock's room is? I didn't get that far on the tour."

"You mean Coach?" Allison asked with a giggle.

_Did I say something funny?_ Maddie silently wondered.

Allison held out her hand and looked nodded toward the paper. Maddie handed it over and waiting quietly for Allison to look over it as Lydia continued to pick idly at her food. Allison smiled widely and gave Madeline the paper back. "Good news! You have Econ with us. I can show you where it is if you wait by the lockers outside the cafeteria after sixth period."

"Sure! Thanks." It was almost genuine but in reality, she didn't really care either way. This was probably the best way to keep the youngest Argent in her sights though.

"No problem! Us new girls have to stick together," Allison replied with a grin and nudged Maddie lightly in the shoulder with her own. She then motioned to Lydia who had not been paying attention whatsoever. "And if that doesn't work, we have someone to show us the ropes. Right, Lydia?"

"Hm?" was Lydia's only reply as she looked up, a dull expression resting on her features.

* * *

Stiles turned around and examined the three girls sitting at the table - mostly to catch a glance at Lydia Martin but that was beside the point. He looked across table at the friend he was still cross at. "Man, do you see this?"

Scott peeked over his textbook at the girls. "Uh, yeah. Why?" He ducked again.

"Is this the year of the instantly popular new girls? I mean, that weird one from our History class is over there already and it's only day one!" He stuffed some more food in his mouth and continued speaking. "Which, by the way, makes no sense. People spend their entire school careers trying to even get half as close they did to girls like Lydia. Myself included. Seriously, dude. It's like a bad omen."

Scott, still hiding behind his book, groaned. "Okay, could you not talk about bad omens? I've got enough to worry about."

"What?" Stiles responded and looked back at Scott. "Oh. Right."

* * *

"So what were you going on about before?" Lydia asked quite plainly, speaking as if it were only her and Allison at the table.

Maddie sat there quietly, praying from lunch to be done with. She wasn't hungry and now she seemed to be becoming more and more bored by the second. It couldn't hurt to listen in though.

Allison's head perked up from the book she was reading. "Huh? Oh yeah! That." She glanced over at Madeline, a bit embarrassed. "I'm doing this history project and -"

"Sweetie, lunch is over in like fifteen minutes," Lydia interrupted with a plastered on smile. "You might want to speed this up."

Allison gave her a knowing and slightly chastising look before directing her attention back to her book. "In here there's this excerpt about the beast of Gevaudan."

There was a pause. Madeline gave Allison a confused look for more than one reason. Lydia, who seemed to be only half paying attention at that point spoke up. "The what of who?"

"The beast of Gevaudan," Allison repeated without missing a beat or even getting mildly annoyed. "Listen. 'A quadruped wolf-like monster, prowling the Auvergne and south Dordogne areas of France during the year 1764 to 1767."

Madeline's head unintentionally perked up. Something was certainly off about this.

"'La Bete killed over a hundred people, becoming so infamous that the King Louie the 15th sent one of his best hunters to try and kill it.'" The pale brunette looked up at her best friend almost expectantly.

"Boring," Lydia replied instantaneously. Madeline's eyebrows raised at the girl.

Allison leaned in closer as if she was revealing a secret. "Even the church eventually declared the monster a messenger of Satan."

"Hmm…" Lydia tilted her head, as if she were actually thinking her answer over. "Still boring."

Allison continued to read aloud, regardless of her friend's tiresome remarks. "Cryptozoologists believe it may have been a subspecies of hoofed predator, possibly a mesonychid."

"Slipping into a coma bored," came Lydia's next comment.

This time, Madeline let out a laugh. It wasn't a forced laugh either; it was a natural, somewhat genuine laugh that made her cover her mouth.

Allison looked up at the newcomer, slightly disheartened. Lydia gave Allison a pointed stare, using her fork to point at Madeline. "See? She agrees with me."

Maddie shrugged, unaware she's done anything that anyone would take offense to. "It's just worded a lot like…" She thought for a moment before eyeing her textbooks. She held up a book that happened to be titled _'Chemistry: In Practice, In Action!'_. "...these. It's like any other textbook. It's always going to be more interesting when it's being told like a story."

Lydia's smile was almost smug when she looked back at Allison. "I'll wait for the movie version."

Maddie took that as a cue to laugh again, which she took. She wasn't aware of how difficult it would be to talk to normal teenagers. It was exhausting.

Allison seemed hardly phased by the comments altogether. "Hold on, hold on! While others believe it was a powerful sorcerer who could shape-shift into a man-eating _monster_."

This girl clearly knew more that Madeline was originally told she knew. She expected a girl without the slightest idea what went bump in the night but here was possibly the most clueless Argent talking about monsters over lunch. It was almost like being back at headquarters.

Lydia raised a questionable eyebrow. "Any of this have anything to do with your family?"

"This," Allison continued, clearly intrigued. "It is believed that la Bete was finally trapped and killed by a renown hunter who claimed his wife and four children were the first to fall prey to the creature." She looked up at the two girls. "His name was Argent."

The shock on Maddie face was something she could not fake. It obviously wasn't for the same reasons as Allison's own shock but it was certainly a real emotion. The Slayer was starting to understand more fully the issue she was presented with and what the rest of the Argents wanted her here for.

Lydia's stare, though, was still blank. "Your ancestors killed a big wolf. So what?"

"Not just a big wolf. Take a look at this picture," Allison replied as she turned the book and propped it up for her friend to see. "What does it look like to you?"

As if her time at that table hadn't been odd enough, she examined the look on Lydia's face. The girl had gone pale and her eyes widened in what could only be described as horror. There was something else though that Maddie had to take a second or two to pinpoint. Was it...familiarity?

"Lydia?" Allison looked at her friend worriedly. "Lydia."

The strawberry blonde's eyes snapped up to Allison's brown ones and she spoke, her voice on edge. "It looks. Like a big. Wolf." At that she smiled and stood. "See you in History."

Lydia didn't seem to deem it necessary to say goodbye to Maddie as she left but it didn't seem to bother the newcomer in the least. In fact, she was still processing the information she'd just been handed.

Allison sighed heavily and set the book down again. She glanced over at Madeline, embarrassment written all over her face. "Oh god, I'm so sorry." She gave an apologetic smile. "This must be super weird. I don't know what I was thinking." The youngest Argent laughed quietly at herself. "I swear, I'm not always this much of a freak."

Maddie gave the girl a blank stare, clearly not used to people apologizing for something as menial as 'weirdness'. "What? Oh. No, no, it's fine. There's nothing wrong with weird." She smiled at the girl, attempting to reassure her. "I can handle weird. Besides, I've heard weirder."

Both curious and appreciative, Allison replied with a meek, "Really?"

"Definitely. Like, everyday." As if on cue, warning signs began flashing in Maddie's brain. _Too much information! Alert! Mayday!_ After a short pause, she blinked and quickly added, "I just have a really weird family."

Allison a laugh and a knowing smile. "That makes two of us." At that, she heard a familiar voice - Stiles. Her eyes flicked over to the direction of the voice, finding the pale, scrawny boy annoyedly taking a book out of Scott's grasp, leaving him out in the open. Allison's eyebrows furrowed. "Scott?"

Scott's eyes darted over to Allison as he began to make a hasty escape, following his friend out of the cafeteria. Maddie looked over at the scene, recognizing the boy almost immediately.

"Sorry," Allison began quickly as she grabbed her things and stood. "I gotta go." Without waiting for a response, she hurriedly left the cafeteria as well. "Scott, wait!"

"S'okay…" Maddie muttered to herself. She exhaled loudly as more and more questions filled her head. She gathered her things and took out her phone as she strolled out of the room. "I gotta make a call anyway."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews! For those who are Buffy fans, I just wanted to let you know that this doesn't follow the comic continuity. Things get super confusing and I don't want to alienate those who aren't familiar with BtVS too badly.**


	4. Chapter Three: Speaking In Code

**Chapter Three: Speaking In Code**

* * *

The bell had rung once more and sixth period had finally ended. Madeline struggled with her bag as she thought about all the pointless work she'd already been given. It'd already been a hellish day and she'd only just narrowly avoided a detention for 'rudely talking back' in Chemistry. That seemed to be the general consensus from her teachers thus far – Maddie was _apparently_ rude. She'd honestly never missed training so much in her life when compared side by side to high school. Finally, the day was nearly through and she was headed to… She stopped in her tracks. Which class was she headed to? She quickly rummaged through her bag and pulled out the same piece of paper from earlier.

_**Seventh Period….Economy**_

She stared at it for a moment longer with a befuddled look on her face. _Economy?_ _That was a __**required**__ class?_ "Okay…" she muttered, shoving the paper back in her bag and looking around as she started walking again.

As she swerved around other students, her thoughts wandered back to her strange lunch experience. Unfortunately no one had answered her phone call but she made sure the message she left was off putting enough to warrant a call back.

"Madeline!"

She paused at the sound of her name and looked around. Odds are it would be for a different Madeline anyway - no one there knew her well enough to try and get her attention for any reason she could think of. That was when she spotted Allison waving her down. _Right!_ The light bulb had flickered on in her head, reminding her of what the girl had said during lunch - at least the parts that weren't about hunters and giant wolves. She refrained from letting out a deep, frustrated sigh and walked over to Allison with a wave and a small, forced smile. The girl in front of her returned the smile. "Hey! I was starting to think you were going to pass right by."

"Sorry," Maddie said almost begrudgingly as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder. "I was spacing out, I guess."

"No, that's totally understandable!" Allison waved it off nonchalantly. "I'm sure you've got a lot on your plate, you know with it being your first day and all." She didn't wait for Madeline to reply as she started walking and motioned for the other girl to follow. "C'mon! The last thing you want is for Coach to point out that you're late. Trust me."

The petite Slayer nodded and began walking beside the taller girl. Allison continued talking as they quickly went down the hallway and around another corridor. Madeline nodded and smiled, only half paying attention. If there was anything she learned from growing up with essentially only teenage girls, it was to at least pretend you were listening. She hated it though; she felt so very..._fake_. She knew though...she knew that it wasn't about actually _making_ friends. She was protecting this girl, all the while not letting anyone know what she really was. She was sure that it was hard enough to play off that this was a normal town without a vampire slayer being thrown in the mix. "...and that's hard enough to deal with, you know?"

The shorter girl blinked and looked up. Clearly, from the look on Allison's face, a response was expected.

"Oh, yeah." _You weren't listening_, a voice in the back of Maddie's head chastised. She mentally shook it off and followed Allison into the classroom that was already nearly full. She noticed the girl spot that boy from earlier - _Scott, wasn't it?_ - and hurry to the seat behind him. The other strange boy had tried to take the seat but was just barely beaten to it by Allison and took the seat beside her.

"Madeline, over here!" Allison pointed to the seat diagonal from her that happened to be next to Scott and in front of his friend. She refrained from grumbling and swallowed her pride as she walked over and took the seat. Uncomfortably she turned slightly to Allison and the two boys. The fair brunette gestured to Maddie. "Guys, this is Madeline. Madeline, this is my boyfriend, Scott, and his friend, Stiles."

"Really, everyone can just call me Maddie. It's fine," she replied politely.

"We met actually," the boy behind her - _Stiles? That's a weird name_. - interjected. "Well, sort of. She made our English teacher nearly pop a blood vessel in record time." He looked over at her and gestured with his pencil in hand. "Kudos on that, by the way."

"Thanks?" Maddie replied with a confused look. "But, wait, isn't that bad?"

"Nah." Stiles shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "In fact, you might want to try it on all the teachers around here. Extra points if you get Harris to quit."

The other two had already started up their own conversation, which from the looks on their faces was not going very well. "The…Chemistry teacher?" Maddie sighed. "I think he already doesn't like me."

"See? You're already half way there. Good job." Off of her blank stare, he gave her his own strange look. "You _really _don't get sarcasm, do you?"

"Should I?" came her biting remark. It wasn't the first time someone had told her that.

Stiles wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "Of course not. I mean, it's not like most people in high school use it or anything."

She silently gave the boy an odd stare and turned around in her desk as the teacher slammed a book down.

"Let's settle down," Coach started, giving his class a scrutinized stare. "Let's start with a quick summary of last night's reading." As Maddie took out her book, others raised their hands. "Greenberg, put your hand down. Everybody knows you did the reading." The large, slightly crazed-looking man walked around his desk. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Madeline. "You. Girl in black."

Her head snapped up and she gave him a wide-eyed stare. "M-Madeline."

"Yeah, whatever. Madison." He folded his arms and continued to glare at her. "Last night's reading, Summary. Go."

Maddie mouth hung open for a second before she found her voice. "I didn't do the reading. I'm actually new…"

"Pfft! Like I haven't heard that one before," Coach went on, suspicion seeping into his voice.

"No, seriously, Coach. She's new. It's her first day," Scott spoke up, throwing Maddie a side glance. She mouthed a _'thank you'_ in which Scott simply nodded.

Coach Finstock gave another suspicious look before heading back over to his desk, sifting through the papers on it. "I don't know what you're trying to pull but I think I'd know if we had a new -" He picked up a paper, squinting at it. "Madeline Hayes. Grade ten. Seventh period." He slammed the paper back down and looked over at the girl who was sinking down in her seat. "Keep up, Hayes. I'm watching you." He gestured two fingers to his eyes then to her. He then turned his attention back to Scott. "Fine then! Since you're full of helpful information today, how about you, McCall!"

He glanced up at his teacher, with the same deer caught in the headlights look that Maddie had worn seconds ago. "Wha…"

"The reading." Coach sat on his desk and looked down at Scott expectantly.

"...Last night's reading?" Scott asked, clearly stalling.

Coach shook his head slightly. "How 'bout, ah...the reading of the Gettysburg address?"

Scott face went from surprise to confusion in all of about five seconds. "What?"

"That's sarcasm," he deadpanned. "You familiar with the term 'sarcasm', McCall?"

"Very," Scott replied, looking back at Stiles. Maddie threw a side glance to the boy behind her, who looked very proud of himself.

_Seems to be the theme of the class_, Maddie thought with an eye roll as she faced forward again.

* * *

The school day had finally ended and a distinct feeling of freedom seemed to wash over Madeline. On the other hand, she hadn't managed to shake Allison off her trail. She seemed to be going on about Scott, who apparently seemed to be avoiding her for most of the day. Whatever had been wrong though seemed to slightly clear up after class. Now, Allison wore a smile as they left the building and she continued on about something happening later that night.

Maddie felt slightly guilty. Allison was a genuinely nice person who honestly seemed to like her for some unknown reason. And here was Madeline feigning interest and hardly listening. In fact, she knew the only reason she was even pretending to listen was simply due to her mission. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and continued her seemingly foolproof method of smiling and nodding.

"Oh, my dad's here!" Allison smiled and waved off in the other direction. Maddie turned and spotted an older man standing outside of an SUV as something dawned on her – it the man from the picture. She withheld a sigh as she continued to follow the younger Argent. "Dad, hi."

"Hey, sweetheart," he said with the same smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, which then darted over to Madeline. "Who's your friend?"

Allison gestured to her. "This is Maddie. She's new."

"Madeline Hayes," Maddie added, her tone almost sounding professional. She smiled politely and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Mister Argent."

He cautiously shook the girl's hand, studying her carefully as if she were a wild animal in a cage. "...New?"

Maddie's smile widened and she nodded. "Just started today."

"Welcome to Beacon Hills. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do." He let go of her hand, stuffing both of his into his coat pockets.

Maddie looked back at the school, then to Allison, and back to her father. "It's been good so far. Can't complain." She felt as if she was speaking in code to the man.

"Good. Allison," the old Argent continued, turning to his daughter, "we should get home. I'm sure your new friend has a lot of work to do."

Allison nodded briskly to her father and turned to Maddie. "See you tomorrow, then?"

Madeline gave a short nod to the girl. "Yep, see you tomorrow."

Allison waved as she got in the SUV and her father gave Maddie one last pointed glance before walking around the car to the driver's side. As they drove off, the slayer sighed heavily and kicked some dirt on the ground. Her stomach coiled as she thought of tomorrow - and even the day after that. How long did she need to be here? And exactly how long were the Argents going to leave their daughter in the dark about it?

The sun had set and Madeline had only managed to finish half of her homework – something she hadn't done since about the second grade. Of course there was much, much more of it these days and understandably so. That didn't mean she had to like it. _How did they expect kids to do this every day? _she recalled thinking. Now, it was quarter past eight and she'd been roaming the streets of the small town with a leather messenger back at her side full of handheld weapons. Miss Summers had told her to keep up her patrolling regiment and report any other odd activity. Alas, there seemed to be hardly any odd activity in the town. She'd been out for hours and not even one vampire seemed to rear its ugly head. There were no missing bodies from the cemetery according to the skittish boy who worked there. He seemed a bit perturbed at the question in general though and probably wouldn't have told her anyway.

At that point, she felt as if her only reasoning for being out was to avoid her mountain of work and the rancid smell of the motel room.

Her feet continued to lead her all around town and somehow managed to make it all the way back to the high school. It was one of the few places she had memorized the route to so it was really no surprise that she had unconsciously found herself there. She was about to head back though, as it seemed pointless to even patrol the area. Unfortunately, that was when things started picking up for her that night - and in probably the strangest way possible.

"AOWOOOUUUUUUOOUUUU!"

That was the sound she heard over the loud speaker all around the school grounds. It was certainly enough to make her stop and look back at the school. "What in the _hell _was that?" she muttered to herself. Whatever it was, it sounded human at least. _Maybe someone was pulling a prank or …_

The sound that came next was the one that truly shook her at her core.

A howl. A howl like she heard in her nightmare. The type of howl she was trained to know. Suddenly she knew whatever was in that school certainly was not human.

She gripped her messenger bag and strode over in the direction of the school. As she tried to press in the door, it wouldn't budge. Taking a step back, she quickly gave the door a firm kick. She heard the lock break and the door - half off its hinge - swung open. She took one last look around and entered the building cautiously. Her footsteps echoed in the empty halls as she walked slowly, listening for any other sounds. She took another measured step before hearing what sounded like a guttural roar now outside the building. Her head snapped over to the direction of the sound and she started running toward it as fast as her feet would allow. Of course, it didn't last long as she neared another door that swung open.

Two boys ran in and swiftly closed the doors behind them, holding it tight. She stopped in her tracks as the boys heaved in breaths and turned toward her.

Before her stood the same strange boys from earlier that day, Scott and Stiles.

And now they were gawking at her.

In the empty halls of the school, all three voices echoed loudly, "What are you doing here?!"

* * *

**A/N: Yes, Night School is coming. After all, to quote JK Rowling, "there are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other". Or in this case, you know, being super suspicious of each other. Either way.**


	5. Chapter Four: Deja Vu

**Chapter Four: Deja Vu**

* * *

"Really? Damn." A short, mirthless laugh escaped Kate's lips. "Those little girls know how to work quick, don't they?"

"And you're sure it was her," Victoria spoke out, gripping the glass in her hand tightly.

Chris flipped through the pages in the manila folder. A cheaply copied picture was attached to one of the sheets of paper. The girl wore a deep frown and a dull stare – a very different face than she wore for show earlier that day. "Madeline Hayes. Sixteen." He threw the pages on the table, in front of the two women. "It was her."

The redhead picked up the paper that had the photograph copied onto it, scanning of the information quickly before throwing it back down. "She should have checked in with us first before introducing herself to Allison."

"And ruin the element of surprise?" Kate chimed in with the same amount of malice etched in her voice. "We couldn't have that."

The graying man eyed his sister for a moment before turning to his wife. "Look, we wanted fast results and here she is. I don't like this any more than you do – "

"You sure about that, big brother?" came Kate's sharp comment as she stood, now eye level with him. "Cause the way it's looking is that you don't trust your _family_ to get the job done but you'll bring in a complete stranger with what? Super powers?"

"We have no reason to think the Council isn't on our side," he replied, giving the younger Argent a hard stare. "And it isn't the first time one of us has called on them for help, is it?"

Kate's nostrils flared and her jaw clenched tightly as she glared at her brother. "Wake up, Chris. That was nine long years ago. We _knew_ what we were up against."

"_We_? If I recall, nine years ago you were shouting about how you didn't want to be a part of this family." Chris' voice was growing louder as he continued. "_You_ had no idea what we were up against."

Kate folded her arms and laughed. "You mean just like Allison?" At the mere mention, she saw a blaze of anger in Chris' stare. Pleased with the result, her own gaze narrowed on the man. "Face it - you trust a bunch of demons over your own blood. If you haven't noticed, they're not kept on a leash anymore. The Council you knew is _dead_."

Victoria's glass slammed down on oak tabletop, calling both hunters' attention. There was a pause as the woman stared down at her drink, lost in the thoughts of another time. She drew in a breath and raised her dark stare to her husband. "I would like to meet this girl by the end of the week if you insist she spend time with our daughter."

Chris silently nodded before sending one more look back at his sister and leaving the room.

* * *

Both panicked boys held the doors tightly shut. Scott turned to Stiles, eyes wide with fear. "Lock it! Lock it!"

"Does it look like I have a key?!" Stiles replied incredulously.

"Grab something!" Scott replied hurriedly. "Anything!"

Madeline stood there, frozen by the event that had gone down. What in god's name were they doing there at the school that late and what exactly _were_ they running from? _Unless…_ The howl. Did they see it? Did they even know what they saw? Regardless of the things the girl had seen in her short life, including werewolves, it didn't mean things like this didn't tend to catch her off guard. She stared at the boys and the color drained from her face as one of them stood and looked out the small window in the door.

The first boy – _Scott, I think? Yeah, Scott._ – stood as well and braved a glance out the window on his side. He looked to his friend, horrified. "No."

The second boy who Maddie couldn't remember the name of quite yet passed his friend something. "Yes."

"Stiles, don't!" Scott shouted as the other boy pushed open the door and left.

Maddie's eyes widened and she rushed over to the doors to look outside. She quickly glanced over to Scott. "What's he doing?"

"Um," Scott began, as if something was caught in his throat. "The pliers. G-grabbing those pliers."

Her gaze only grew more confused as she looked out the window again. "For what?!"

Scott didn't answer as they watched Stiles kneel down and grab the pliers on the ground carefully. That was when something caught Scott's attention and he began banging on the window. "Run! Run! Stiles!"

Madeline looked up farther to find what had Scott so terrified. Hunched over and moving from behind the jeep in the parking lot was a large, snarling, red eyed wolf. It's fur-covered, elongated arms launched it forward towards Stiles. Her mouth hung open, she back away slowly from the door. _No. It's too early. It's only been a day. One freaking day!_

In a matter of moments the door opened again and Stiles quickly fastened the pliers in the door handles. The two boys checked outside once more, even using the flashlight once over.

"Okay, what is going on?!" Maddie shouted. Of course, she had an idea but there was no way she could let them know that. "And what are you doing here?!"

The boys turned to her with equally horrified expressions. "What are _we_ doing here?!" Stiles nearly shouted his indignant reply. "What are _you_ doing here?!"

_Damn it._ What _was_ she doing there? She swallowed and gave the two an indignant glare as her grip tightened on her bag. "I went for a walk. I heard a noise."

"Oh, so you went for a walk at night by yourself around the school?" The pale boy gave a shrug. "Because that makes perfect sense."

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes on him. "I. Was. _Bored_. So yeah, I went for a walk. At night. By myself."

Stiles paused and gave her a suspicious look. "…Are the schoo-"

"_Yes_, around the school!" Maddie cut him off abruptly. "I'm new, remember?! I know about two places in town and this is one of them!"

"You said you heard a noise?" Scott asked suddenly.

Calming herself a bit, Maddie blinked and looked over at him. "…Yeah? It was coming from the school speakers."

Stiles' eyebrows furrowed as he gave the girl a scrutinizing stare. "So you go _towards_ it?!"

She gave an exasperated sigh as her eyes darted over to the boy. "It sounded like something was dying! So _yeah_, I went towards it."

"Like something was…" Stiles looked over to Scott who was looking very sheepish at that moment. The scrawnier boy sighed and looked back to Maddie. "…Yeah, we heard it too."

Scott glanced at the girl worriedly. "Did you hear anything after that?"

"Yeah," the petite slayer started, her mind racing. "It was like…this howl. Or roar...or something. But sort of not, you know?"

"…heard that too," Scott muttered quietly, giving his friend an indiscernible gaze.

"I, um…" Madeline paused briefly, choosing her words carefully. "I was already in the school by that time. I was actually looking for the way out. I got kind of freaked." She adjusted the strap on her shoulder. "That when I ran into you two."

Scott nodded and gave her an understanding look.

"Guys, I hate to break this up, but we should probably be – I don't know – _moving_," Stiles spoke up, his eyes set on the pliers stuck in the doors.

The boys began backing up from the double doors, as did Maddie. Scott glanced over at Stiles, eyes wide. "That won't hold, will it?"

Stiles looked over at his friend with the same fear in his eyes. "Probably not."

They three looked towards the dark, empty hallway. Madeline considered her odds of getting away from the two while avoiding suspicion but all of her thoughts were abruptly cut off. In the depths of the school, the three teenagers heard a howl. In a matter of seconds, Scott and Stiles took off while Maddie found she had no choice but to follow. She didn't like the chances the boys had of staying out of harm's way on their own.

They made their way into an empty classroom and Scott immediately went over to the teacher's desk, pushing it towards the door. Stiles got in his way quickly. "Stop, stop! The door's not gonna keep it out."

"What is _it_ anyway?!" Maddie asked quietly. Sure, she knew but the question was if they had any idea.

The boys glanced up at each other, mouths gaping, and then over to Madeline. "Ah…" Scott began, eyes darting from Stiles to the girl. "…a mountain lion?"

If there was ever a flimsy lie, that would be it. Stiles rolled his eyes at his best friend.

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Really?! Do you get a lot of giant black mountain lions around here with red glowing eyes?!"

Stiles looked over at the girl almost solemnly. "…We don't know what it is."

"Well, it looked like a wolf," she retorted bluntly. "A big, crazy looking wolf."

If there was any chance that she had of seeming clueless, lying about what she saw was not the way to start. Anyone else might've done the same.

"Well, yeah, could be that," Stiles muttered under his breath.

Scott glanced up at his friend, his expression still holding quite a bit of concern. "So what do we do?"

"We get to my jeep, we get out of here." As Stiles passed Scott, he managed to mutter quietly so only his friend could hear him.

Madeline eyed the two strangely but followed them over to the windows all the same. There was something off about them that she couldn't quite place yet. It didn't matter at the moment though. What matters was that she made sure they got out of the building unscathed – which may be harder than she thought.

Scott began pushing at the window when Stiles caught his attention. "No, they don't open; the school's climate controlled."

"Then we break it," Scott replied, although his tone didn't seem to have much confidence behind it.

"And make a lot of noise," came Stiles' retort.

Scott looked out the window, scanning the area. "Then we run really fast." He eyed Stiles' jeep, his sense of urgency only heightening as he noted how far off it was. He turned to his friend with an uneasy expression. "_Really_ fast."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Madeline groaned, walking away from the two.

Stiles gave the girl an extremely offended stare and nearly said something when Scott spoke up. "Stiles, what's wrong with the hood of your jeep?"

The other boy's attention was instantly torn away from the annoyingly rude girl and back to the window. "What do you mean? Nothing's wrong."

"It's bent!" Scott squinted to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks. There, in the distance was the blue jeep with its hood curved nearly into a 'u' shape and set on top of the exposed engine.

"Dented?" Stiles asked, panic rising in his voice as he got closer to the window to check over his friend's shoulder.

"No, I mean bent!"

Stiles flicked on the large flashlight and pointed it over to his car. "What the hell – "

Before he could finish what he was saying, something came crashing through the window above their heads. Scott and Stiles ducked close to the ground as glass showered down on them. Maddie, who was on the other side of the room, jumped at the noise and stumbled back into a desk.

As silence filled the room again, the slayer stood and walked over, discovering what the two boys were staring at, utterly horrified.

"…That's my battery," Stiles said, his voice distant and almost disbelieving. He tried to stand when Scott pulled him back down to the floor.

"Don't," he muttered.

Madeline stared at the battery a second longer before her stare went to the boys. "That's it." Her hands flew up defensively. "I'm out of here."

"No!" Scott replied in a hushed voice. "You don't know – "

"What I _know_," she began as she backed out of the room, "is that I've been going with the plans you two made up. And they've sucked so far." She walked out of the room and into the hall once more, looking around. I should be fighting this thing, not hiding from it.

"No! Maddie!" Scott called out, looking over at his best friend quickly.

Stiles looked back at him with an almost pleading look, reading Scott's expression. "Seriously?"

Scott shrugged and they both got up, rushing out into the halls. The young werewolf spotted the girl and jogged up to meet her. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving!" she called back as she spun around.

Stiles exchanged a shocked glance with Scott before stepping in front of Madeline. "You can't just _leave_! There's – "

"There's _what_?" She folded her arms and gave the two a scrutinizing stare.

The boys looked at each other again, unsure of how to answer. Stiles cleared his throat. "…There's a _thing_ out there and if you haven't noticed, it destroyed the only mode of transportation we have! I don't think leaving's really an option at this point!"

"Hiding in classrooms isn't working either!" she said harshly. It wasn't beginning to look like they weren't about to let her lose them which only annoyed her further.

Scott sighed, too many thoughts swirling around in his head to possibly think straight. "We…we just need to find some place safe to make a plan."

"You know what? Fine. Let me see your phone real quick." She gave Scott an expectant stare which was returned with confusion.

"Why?"

"Mine's dead," she answered quickly.

Scott frowned and scratched the back of his head. "Mine's kind of broken…"

Maddie and Scott turned their eyes to Stiles who blinked a few times and looked back and forth between the two. "Wait, what?"

The girl held out her hand in front of him. "Your phone, I need to use it."

Stiles didn't move for a second or two as Scott motioned for him to oblige. He finally and hesitantly dug through his pocket and pulled out his smartphone, handing to the girl with a sour look on his face. She took out her own and began typing on both quickly.

Scott and Stiles both gave her a shocked look before Stiles spoke up. "Woah, hey! You just said – "

"Yep, and I lied." She finished typing on the phones before turning Scott's around to face the boys.

_Madeline - EMERGENCY  
(415) 555-1234_

"I have your number and you have mine," she began as she put her phone away and handed Stiles' phone back to him.

Stiles took the phone and shoved it back in his pocket while Scott gave the girl an odd look before speaking. "But why?"

"Because we're splitting up," Maddie stated, giving them both a blank stare. In that instant, both teenage boys gawked at her as if she had just lopped off her own head.

"Can I just say how _terrible_ of a plan that is?" Stiles commented, eyes wide.

"He's right!" Scott added, panic rising in his voice again. "You can't just wander off by yourself! You don't know what's out there!"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Do _you_?"

Scott paused for a second before answering. "Well…okay, no. But…"

"Exactly," she cut in, swerving around the two and walking off. "If you think of something or need help, call that number. I'll call you if I run into trouble. Don't call for any other reason."

"Yeah, because I was actually gonna call you just talk my day," Stiles responded with an eye roll. She didn't answer but instead kept walking. "Maddie!" Stiles shouted, exasperated.

There was something about that which made her stop for a moment. _Déjà vu?_ She shook it off and looked back at the two boys. "No. You two go. Figure something out. We can cover more ground this way." She gripped the strap of her messenger bag tightly and headed down the hall. "And don't follow me!"

Scott and Stiles exchanged a worried looked as the girl disappeared down a corridor.

* * *

**A/N: Alrighty! So thank you all for so many awesome reviews! Didn't think this story would be liked so much to be honest! Anyway, I've noticed a few questions.**

** winchesterxgirl: Maddie is currently living out of a motel room, but things like that are subject to change as the plot progresses. Her funds are coming directly from the new Watcher's Council, run by the original Scoobies. **

**So, next up, more fun times with the Alpha! Well, not fun for our heroes, but you know what I mean.**


	6. Chapter Five: Fight or Flight

**Chapter Five: Fight or Flight**

* * *

An Alpha.

An Alpha werewolf on her first day. Oh, but not just any alpha, an alpha that looked like it stepped directly out of a monster movie. Sure, Madeline was told that they could be of any shape or size but she hadn't particularly expected an wolf that looked like _that_. It'd been a few minutes since she left the boys and as soon as she felt she was far enough away, she had pulled out a compact crossbow. As she loaded a bolt, she began walking softly and swiftly down the empty corridor, accompanied by nothing but the silence. It was strange; she was sure by that point she could have been able to hear something. She'd headed the right way, didn't she? The slayer stopped in her tracks, pressing close to the lockers that lined the hallway as she listened.

Nothing. The corners of her lips tugged downward in a small frown.

She nearly moved to walk forward again when a noise finally caught her attention. Footsteps? No. It was a clicking – several tiny clicks over and over again. _Almost like…_ Her breath hitched in her throat as she felt her blood turn to ice in her veins. It sounded almost like paws on the linoleum tiles. As the clicks grew louder, something else joined it – heavy breathing. Maddie's index finger twitched slightly on the trigger of the crossbow.

The sounds were now loud enough for the creature to be right around the corner when the clicking on the tiles stopped altogether. It was sniffing; she heard it. It would find her if she didn't move, if she didn't do something. Steeling herself, she quickly turned the corner and pointed her weapon straight ahead.

Again, nothing.

The hall in front of her was vacant, like all the others. It had vanished – or perhaps it hadn't been there at all. _No. No, I heard it!_ She spun around, her weapon at the ready but still she found nothing. It hadn't passed by; she would've seen it. The only logical answer left her frozen where she stood in fear. It knew she had been there. Doing her best to ward off the uneasy feeling in her stomach, she lowered her weapon back to her side and continued on in silence.

Maddie had only started walking again when she heard something that made her go slightly paler than seeing the wolf; she heard a voice.

"Scott?!"

It wasn't just any voice either; it was a voice she'd been hearing for a decent chunk of the day. She took a deep breath and put away her crossbow, running in the direction of the voice as quickly as she could. She bounded around another corner and withheld a groan as she was met with the sight of the somewhat familiar brunette. "Allison?!"

Allison turned in Maddie's direction with an equally shocked expression on her face. "Maddie! What are you doing here? Were you the one who left the door open?" Panic rose in her voice as she spoke and tightly clutched her phone in her hand. "Have you seen Scott?"

"Hold on! One question at a time," Maddie said, using a harsher voice than she had speaking to the girl earlier. This was made clear when Allison looked slightly taken aback but the slayer had already had enough of that day and held nothing back. "I was in the area and heard a noise. No, I didn't leave the door open. And yeah, he's here too – but you shouldn't be."

"What? What do you mean?" Allison asked, her eyes wide with confusion. "What's going on? Is this about the text? I don't – "

"Allison!" Maddie shouted, sending the girl a hardened gaze. "It's not safe here! You need to get out! Now!"

The youngest Argent opened her mouth to speak, shock etched in her features. "…I just…please, Maddie…I need to know what's happening. Where is Scott?"

That look on the girl's face – she knew that look. It was the same look on every face of every person she had watched her mentor save. It was the look she'd had on her face the day she saw her first monster – the look of a frightened child. Maddie's dark eyes softened slightly and she glanced down at the floor. "I don't know." The words spilled from her mouth before she knew she was saying them. Her stare found Allison's again. There was no way this girl would leave without her boyfriend and there was no way Madeline would let her wander off on her own. She swallowed despite the lump in her throat. "Sorry I snapped. I'm just…freaked out. Um, we should just…find Scott and get out of here, okay?"

Allison's stare was still unsure and even a bit afraid but she gave a shaky nod all the same.

* * *

The night continued to drag on as they walked around the school quietly aside from the random shouts for Scott. Madeline was aware that she probably ruined her good first impression with the Allison in one fell swoop. How in the hell did anyone expect slayers to attend school? It was no wonder Miss Summers never brought up her own high school experience – although Maddie would be sure to try and ask again after this mess. If nothing else, it'd probably make her feel better. She walked slightly ahead of taller girl, her insides contorting uncomfortably at the prospect of anything popping out at them. As long as she was there though, she was ready to take the brunt of any attack.

As they entered another room, they both clearly noted the pools on either side of them as they walked. Madeline especially noted them as she nearly fell into one as Allison's phone began going off. The petite slayer gathered herself again and stopped as the other girl answered the device. "Hey…we can't seem to find them."

Maddie glanced around the room, keeping her guard up.

"Oh, um…I ran into Maddie," Allison continued, giving the shorter girl an unsure look. "The girl from earlier? She sat with us at lunch."

The slayer noted the sigh after that. It must've been her friend that looked almost offended when she sat with them – the girl that she couldn't remember the name of_. I gotta get better with these names._

"Okay, give me a second, I'll be right there." She hung up and sighed, stuffing her phone back in her pocket.

"Everything good?" Maddie asked, although her tone didn't hold all that much sincerity.

Allison nodded slightly. "Yeah, but, um…I need to meet back up with Lydia and Jackson. I don't think Scott's here anymore."

_He's got to be here. Unless he's that stupid_. Regardless, Madeline was aware that it was generally a better idea to get Allison out of harm's way. "Yeah, okay. Lead the way."

"Actually – " Allison began but was cut off by her phone again. Her eyebrows furrowed as she pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the screen. She tapped the screen and raised it to her ear. "Stiles?"

_Damn it. _She absentmindedly adjusted the strap of her messenger bag.

"I'm in the school looking for you, why weren't you at my place?" the girl beside her said, an edge in her voice and understandably so. Of course, Maddie had thought she made it fairly clear that this was not the time or the place.

_Clearly not._

"On the first floor. I found – "

Maddie gave Allison a look, noticing the unease on the girl's face. Her alertness seemed to go up quite a bit which allowed panic to seep back into the slayer's head.

"The swimming pools," was the young Argent's short response. Another second or two passed before she spoke again. "Okay, okay, we're coming."

She hung up the phone, eyes holding a sense of urgency. "The lobby."

Without another word, Allison began running out of the room, leaving Madeline to grumble under her breath and catch up.

* * *

Maddie had forgotten how tough it was to match her pace to someone who wasn't as fast as her, but the last thing she needed was for someone to see her do anything out of the ordinary – least of all, Allison. It took them longer than it could've but in a matter of minutes, they were slamming through the doors to the lobby, finding Scott and Stiles across from them. Scott rushed over to Allison immediately. "Why did you come? What are you doing here?"

"Because you asked me to," Allison said, giving him a confused look.

Scott's eyebrows knitted together, his expression very nearly matching his girlfriend's. "I asked you to?"

Allison pulled out her cellphone and tapped on it to bring it back to life, turning it to face Scott. "Why do I get the feeling you didn't send me this message?" came Allison's shaky reply.

Scott, on the other hand, wore a worried look. "Because I didn't."

"Did you drive here?" Stiles spoke up, calling everyone's attention.

"Jackson did," Allison said.

The panic on Scott's face seemed to increase. "Jackson's here too?!"

"And Lydia! What's going on?!" Allison seemed to be talking to the whole room at that point as she looked at the three who seemed to know much more than they were letting on. In that instant, her phone rung and she immediately answered. "Where are you?"

In what seemed like less than a second later, the other girl from earlier that day and a boy Maddie didn't seem to recognize burst into the room.

_Oh, god damn it._ Maddie counted each person in the room and suddenly had the urge to yell at all of them. How in the world was anyone supposed to have a secret identity around here? She held her tongue though, not wanting another outburst like she had with Allison.

"Finally," Lydia breathed. She looked up at Allison. "Can we go now?"

Allison nodded but no one had even a moment to move before the ceiling began groaning as if something very heavy was walking just above all of their heads. Everyone looked up at once and paused for a second or so. Scott then muttered, "Run."

The five of them ran, all but Maddie who made motion to run but instead turned around and took a few steps back as the ceiling collapsed in front of her. The wolf stood, towering over her and she took a breath, balling her fists as she took a defensive stance.

As the five started running, Stiles took a glance back at the beast to find the strangest thing. He looked horrified as he ran, watching such a tiny girl stand as if she were about to actually _fight_ the alpha werewolf. Before he could see anything else, the group turned a corner.

The inhuman noise the Alpha made at the sight of the girl sounded almost like a laugh.

"You think this is so funny, do something," Maddie said quietly through her clenched jaw, eyes dark as she glared at the creature. She dropped her bag, knowing she'd lose her chance if she stopped to dig out a weapon. "Because that's the _only_ way you'll get to them."

It growled before letting out a deafening roar and swinging his arm towards her. Even through her nerves, she managed to grab the Alpha's arm that had painfully hit her side. She locked the massive clawed hand between her own arm and her side, not allowing him to move her from her position. Digging its claws further into her side, it looked down at its arm and back up to Maddie's face which now wore the most sadistic of grins. With every ounce of strength in her body, she heaved her entire body weight shoulder first into the caught off guard werewolf and tackled it through the lobby doors that exploded into splinters of wood.

As she laid there for that short moment, she took notice of how terribly the open wound on her side stung and her shoulder felt like several tiny pins had been shoved into the bone. Madeline kipped up rather unsteadily, catching her breath and stumbling backwards as she grabbed her shoulder and rolling it painfully. Her side still hurt as she choked out a breath. Looking up, she noticed the only slightly dazed wolf beginning to stand again. Horrified and clearly hurt, she backed up as she grabbed her bag from the floor and finally ran.

_Follow their voices. There's five of them. One's bound to say something!_

Her breathing was ragged as she quickened her pace and turned a corner, finding the group of teenagers headed straight for the double doors of the cafeteria. Willing herself to move just a bit faster, she found herself a few paces behind them as they went through the doors. Almost immediately, Allison, Scott, Lydia, and who Maddie presumed was Jackson began rushing to barricade the doors with anything in sight. The slayer took a moment to catch her breath, doubling over and placing a hand on her knee. In that moment though, she felts someone's eyes on her. She looked up to find Stiles several feet away, looking like he'd just seen a ghost. She glared at him. "What?!"

Whatever the boy had been thinking, he seemed to snap out of it.

There seemed to be quite of bit of commotion in the room as four of the six people there were still building a wall of chairs and tables. _Do they really think that'll keep it out? _Maddie thought miserably, seething over the fact the most she did barely hurt the monster.

Voices sounded off in the room in a mixture of fear, anger, and annoyance. The last one was of course because Stiles seemed to be trying to tell the room something. Everyone, including Madeline seemed to tune him out until he yelled, "HELLO!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and even Maddie managed to stand up straight.

"Okay, nice work. Really beautiful job, everyone," he started, his tone already exasperated. "Now what should we do about the twenty foot wall of windows?"

He gestured to the windows dramatically and everyone by the doors seemed to stop and look at each other.

"Can somebody please explain to me what's going on because I'm freaking out here and I would like to know why!" Allison began abruptly, still catching her breath as she turned to her boyfriend. "Scott?"

Suddenly, everything Maddie had told HQ in her voicemail seemed to be null and void. This girl had no idea. There was a fear in her voice that absolutely no one could fake. _In fact, the people who seem to be panicking the least are…_ She slowly turned to Scott and Stiles. Scott had walked away from his girlfriend without saying a word.

Stiles looked toward the group. "Somebody killed the janitor."

The remaining color in Maddie's face drained in that instant. Lydia seemed to be the first to speak up. "What?"

He walked over to the group. "Yeah, the janitor's dead."

A nervous, disbelieving laugh passed Allison's lips as she turned to Scott. "What's he talking about? Is this a joke?"

Madeline, listening closely as the group continued to speak, back into the far reaches of the cafeteria. Discretely, she set her bag on the floor and lifted up the side of her torn shirt to check her side. To no surprise, she found five deep claw marks already starting to clot. She sighed and tugged her shirt back down.

"It was Derek!" That's what she heard Scott say. _Derek? Who in the hell was Derek?_ Whoever it was, everyone else in the room seemed to recognize the name.

The last thing she remembered hearing was the distinct sound of someone being punched before she decided this was the best time to fix her shoulder issue. She struggled to roll her shoulder again as pain jolted to the spot_. Great. Dislocated._ She grabbed her shoulder tightly with her opposite hand and shrugged into it with all the force she could muster. The girl let out a short and quiet cry as the bone popped back into place. It was enough to turn everyone's attention to her for a moment.

"Maddie?" one of them asked. Scott.

Madeline turned to them and hugged her coat closer to her to cover the shredded side of her shirt and the bloody wound under it. "Hm?"

Three of them gave her a strange look – but Scott and Stiles seemed to have different reactions. Scott looked confused, as if he'd just found something that didn't make any sense whereas Stiles looked mildly suspicious of her as he stood there on the phone, speaking quietly.

"You okay?" Scott asked.

She nodded slightly. "Uh, yeah. I think I just hit my shoulder in the doorway when we came in."

Before anyone else could say anything, the door moved. Something was furiously pounding against it, causing everyone to begin back away from it.

"We're at the school. Dad, we're at the school," Stiles repeated before hanging up his phone. The pressure on the door continued to get worse as more screws came loose and chair began to fall. "The kitchen. The door out of the kitchen next to the stairwell."

"Which only goes up!" Scott yelled as he held Allison close.

Stiles shrugged. "Up is better than here."

* * *

**A/N: So, I've had this done for a few days now and I've been working all this week without a day off. You'll probably see the next chapter on Sunday because of that reason. Scott and Stiles are getting pretty suspicious. That could be a world of not good for Maddie if she's not more careful.**


	7. Chapter Six: Honest

**Chapter Six: Honest**

* * *

_These people are idiots._

This, of course, was something Madeline was now sure of. Sure, maybe not book-wise, as she was now at the front of the Chemistry classroom watching the pretty, popular girl make – what did she say? A self-igniting Molotov Cocktail? That in itself was a fairly incredible feat. Scott had decided to go get the janitor's keys so they could make a hasty escape. No, no, this group almost was working like a well-oiled machine – granted it was a well-oiled machine that clearly lacked common sense and happened to be in a constant state of denial. She vaguely wondered the damage these teens could do if they actually knew all the horrible realities of the town they lived in. That, in itself, was a frightening thought. She shook her head and leaned against the chalkboard.

Several feet away, in the far reaches of Scott's mind, a new form stress loomed over him.

"_Blood? Like…__**fresh**__ blood?"_

"_Yeah! I smelled it back in the cafeteria."_

"_And you're __**sure**__ it was blood?"_

"_Yes, Stiles! I know what blood smells like and that was it!" He sighed. "…And it was coming from her."_

"_You think** that's** weird? I see that and raise you her staying behind, looking like she about to fight the freaking Alpha – and not being __**dead**__!"_

As soon as he and Stiles had been out of earshot, that's basically all they had time to say to each other on the topic. It was worrisome to say the least, on top of the massive issues they were currently dealing with. _Maybe it just hurt her and moved on_… he thought, trying to ease his stress as he waited for Lydia to finish up. _No_. No, that wouldn't make any sense either. She kept up with them. Sure, she was the last to enter the room but if she did face down the Alpha and not only lived to tell the tale but also somehow caught up to them, she'd be some kind of super human. Scott eyed the girl briefly. _Or not human at all._

He subtly sniffed the air*. She didn't smell like a wolf at least. Although there was a bit of distance between them and he was still pretty new to this. He could be wrong. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind once more and moved on to the matter at hand. They had to survive first; he and Stiles could figure the rest out later.

Lydia gently mixed the components and plugged the beaker with a cork, handing it off to Scott. Madeline stared at the mixture, uncertainty written all over her face. "You shouldn't go out there," she said, her voice stern and having a certain level of authority behind it.

"She's right, this is insane," Allison spoke up, pain plaguing her gaze as she looked at her boyfriend. "You can't do this. You cannot go out there."

"We can't just wait here for Stiles to have to check his messages," Scott argued, mirroring her stare.

Allison looked utterly horrified as she listened to his resolve. "You could _die_. Don't you get that? He's killed three people."

"And we're next. Somebody has to do something." Scott backed away from the desk and towards the door.

It was almost painful watching the two. Madeline had forgotten this part; then again, she hadn't seen it for nearly a decade so it was marginally understandable. Death was a constant in her life and each time a team member left – each time a _slayer_ left – they did so as if it was no big deal. _Just another night on the job._ Now and then, some didn't come back, but it was expected. They grew up knowing the deal and pretending to accept it. They were chosen, they fight, they die and that's all there was to it. Now, seeing this average boy possibly – more than likely – kiss his girlfriend for the last time and prepare to face impossible odds was hard to wrap her mind around. As Scott went to the door again, leaving Allison behind, the slayer decided to speak once again. "If you're going out there, you should at least not go by yourself."

"And who's gonna go with him?" Jackson let out a short, mocking laugh. "You?"

"Well, it obviously won't be you," Maddie said with a shrug, not so much trying to attack him but feeling the need to point out the obvious. "You've looked more scared than anyone else here."

"Maddie!" Allison chastised, her voice cracking and tears still staining her cheeks as she did so.

The slayer blinked and her brows furrowed. "What?"

"Just…stay here," Scott mumbled before putting a bit more emphasis in his tone, looking at Madeline. "All of you." He turned away from everyone in the room, opened the door, and in mere seconds, he was gone.

* * *

Minutes ticked away at a ridiculously slow pace – that's at least how it felt. The petite slayer paced back and forth, a mixture of unpleasant emotions coursing through her. Anger was the most prominent – mostly at Scott for being such an idiot. There was some annoyance at the remaining group because their talking wouldn't give her a moment's peace. Then there was one tricky emotion she hadn't experienced in quite some time – helplessness. She'd already tried to leave twice but was stopped by Stiles both times. Each time, the look he gave her seemed more narrowed and suspicious. The feeling was mutual though; she didn't trust either Scott or Stiles considering the amount of lies she heard them giving the other three teenagers. She knew they saw the same thing out of that window earlier that night – but then why lie and say it was a person? They had to at least know it looked like an animal. She vaguely wondered if they had been expecting her to catch them in their lie and tell the group she'd seen a wolf.

Alas, she hadn't. The less people who knew, the better.

Of course, that in itself called something else into question – exactly how much did Scott and Stiles know?

Suddenly, the room reverberated with an ear-piercing howl so loud that she covered her ears. What was even more terrifying was when Jackson collapsed to the floor, writhing and screaming in pain. Maddie rejoined the group, wondering what was happening. As the rest of them helped the boy up, they heard him mutter, "No, I'm fine."

As he stood and jerked away from them, he quickly and much more firmly answered, "Like seriously, I'm okay."

"That didn't sound okay at all," Allison added worriedly.

Then Stiles reached over to Jackson, looking at something with piqued interest. "What's on the back of your neck?"

He swatted Stiles' hand away, glaring at him. "I said I'm fine."

"It's been there for days. He won't tell me what happened," Lydia said to the rest of them, throwing Jackson an accusatory stare.

Jackson's bright blue eyes blazed in anger as he glared at his girlfriend. "As if you actually _care_."

It seemed to be Maddie's turn to narrow her eyes on someone – Jackson to be specific. It seemed she was not the only one in severe pain much to her own suspicion. The slayer achingly rolled her shoulder again and ignored the various sharp pains in her side as she began circling the group before stopping behind the jock. _No one is that stupid._ The girl let out an exasperated sigh as she quickly and without reservation poked one of the purplish-red marks. At least, it was only a poke to her whereas Jackson felt as if the girl had stabbed the back of his neck. He let out a yelp of sheer agony and nearly fell to his knees. He backed away from Maddie and glared at her, his face red enough to see even in the dark. Madeline raised an eyebrow at him expectantly. "People who are fine typically don't do that." Her voice was so plain and ingenuous as she said it that people might've mistaken it as a witty retort.

The reactions from the other three students slightly surprised her. There was Allison who looked completely appalled; Stiles looked begrudgingly impressed – or maybe just happy to see Jackson in pain; and last was Lydia who gave a pleased smile to Maddie and a condescending shrug to Jackson.

Stiles, in a flimsy attempt to ease the tension, stepped in between the infuriated Jackson and a considerably impatient Maddie. "Alright, can we not argue for half a second here?"

"Where's Scott?" Allison muttered more to herself than the rest of the teenagers. Her voice had become more fragile and even a bit shaky this time around. "He should be back by now." It felt like not even half a heartbeat had thumped in Maddie's chest when they all heard a small crack on the other side of the door. Allison was the first to head towards it. "Scott?"

Maddie's near-black stare followed the girl when she saw the oddest thing – someone was on the other side of the door. A person clearly, certainly not an Alpha werewolf – that wasn't the odd part though. The odd part was that they simply stood there on the other side of the door for several long seconds. As Allison shouted louder and louder for Scott, Madeline noticed she'd started twisted the door handle and pulling at the door with all of her strength. Someone – maybe Scott, _probably_ Scott – had locked them in for some unknown reason. It was almost as painful to watch as the two parting. Maddie thought for a moment, contemplating kicking open the door – something she could do easily but would call more things about her to question.

Still, she almost gave in when –

"Stop…Stop!" Lydia spoke over her friend's cries. Her hearing seemed to be focused on something else entirely. "Do you hear that? Listen."

The room grew quiet as a distinct sound was heard by all of them in the distance. Relief flooded Maddie almost immediately. "Sirens," she mumbled to herself quietly.

The expressions of relief spread to the rest of them quickly as they all had the same idea and ran over to the windows. Flashing red and blue lights stretched throughout the entirety of the parking lot.

* * *

Madeline couldn't wrap her brain around any of this.

She fought – or at least attempted to fight – an Alpha werewolf her first night in Beacon Hills.

She ruined Allison's first impression of her in less than an hour.

They all made it out of the school alive and in one piece.

And she _still_ had homework to do.

_Least of my worries, I suppose,_ she thought miserably as she made the long walk over to Allison who now had a mixture of tears and runny mascara sliding down her cheeks in rapid succession. She'd just walked away from Scott, who looked utterly confused and distraught – almost as if the air had just been knocked out of him. Maddie slowed her pace as Allison turned to her with a look the slayer didn't recognize in the slightest. She sniffled and tried to regain her composure. "Hi."

Maddie nodded in return. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out; the apology she'd resolved to give the girl had gotten lodged in her throat. She wasn't really sorry, to honest – or maybe she was but she couldn't quite see why. Apologizing without knowing why seemed hollow. To be honest with herself though, what else could anyone who had told so many lies already be but hollow?

"Sorry," they both choked out at once.

Allison, through her tears, gave a small and embarrassed laugh. A tiny smile tugged at the corners of Maddie's mouth.

"No, really," the taller brunette began, shuffling a bit in her spot. She looked down for a moment at her scuffed shoes before glancing back up at the shorter girl. "God, I am so, so sorry. I get that you were trying to help."

"I yelled at you," Maddie blurted out, although she had been aiming for something much more sincere.

Allison sighed and nodded. "I know. You yelled at me to leave and you were right. I should've." Her eyes went back to a slumped over Scott in the distance. "…I was stupid for staying."

"Kind of," the slayer said with a shrug. Off of Allison's surprised glance, Maddie's eyes widened. "Wow, um - that…didn't come out right."

After a long moment, another small laugh came from the young Argent. "No, no. You said what you meant." Allison curiously stared at the girl, analyzing her for a second. "You do that a lot, don't you?"

_You said what you meant._ That was one of the last things her Watcher had told her – and it certainly hadn't been the first time. It seemed to be a very telling statement about the girl. A heavy sigh escaped her and she looked down at the dead leaves on the ground. "Yeah."

"It's not bad," Allison replied quickly, attempting her very best reassuring smile as a shocked Madeline looked up. "It's…_honest_." The fairer girl's eyes flicked over to the boy it still hurt to look at and Maddie could almost see the light leaving her eyes. "I could use a little bit of honest right about now."

It felt as if a knife had been twisted in Maddie's stomach – a feeling she actually knew and did not take lightly. Although, this knife was made completely of guilt which may have been worse altogether. She forced a smile, feeling particularly _dishonest_. "Sure, yeah. I can do that."

They'd been so engrossed in their conversation, neither seemed to notice the figure looming over Maddie until Allison made a point to look up. "Dad!" She rushed past Madeline and flung her arms around her father who hugged her tightly back. They quietly exchanged some words, mostly in relief – although some from the older man seemed more scolding.

"You're sure…?"

"Yeah, Dad." Her words were soft and with much more relief laced in them. "…didn't let me wander off on my own. Told me to leave. I'm so sorry. I should've listened! I…I was so scared!" Her voice cracked again. Her father hugged her tightly again. Maddie finally turned to see the two embracing. The older Argent opened his eyes and looked at the slayer. An odd lump of nerves set in; would she be fired? Be sent back to HQ for more training? She rung her stretched out sleeve in her hands.

That's when it happened, in that tiny, silent moment.

Chris Argent's eyes weren't as emotionless and suspicious as before. There was a small twinge of something in them and Maddie recognized it almost instinctively. She'd seen it so many time on so many faces but they were never looking at her. They were looking at her leader, her general. It was the look so many innocents gave to Buffy.

It was…_gratitude_.

He gave a slight nod then, which Madeline returned through her own shock. The hunter loosened his grip on his daughter as he looked down at her. "Seems like your new friend has a good head on her shoulders. Maybe you should listen to her next time."

Allison nodded quietly and turned to Maddie with her own grateful, half-hearted smile.

"In fact, to show how grateful we are," Chris began with his own false smile, "How about we invite her over for dinner?"

Both girls gave him a strange, disbelieving look. Allison looked back at Maddie with a wide-eyed stare, then back to her father. "I…I mean, I guess so." She glanced over at the slayer once more. "If that's okay with you."

"Huh?" Madeline seemed more shocked in that moment than the entire time she'd spent in the school that night. "Oh, er, yeah! Sure."

"Good," Chris said, although his tone didn't reflect it. "Saturday night, then."

"Yeah," Maddie replied distantly as something caught her eye. In the distance, she noticed a stern-looking Sheriff looking over at her and waving her over. "Saturday. Right. Sorry, will you excuse me?" With that she made a hasty exit from the Argents and strode towards the man. "Hi, um, did you need me for something?"

"Madeline Hayes?" the Sheriff asked. She nodded. "Your mother has been called. We filled her in on the current situation." He exhaled an exhausted breath. "Since she's out of town, she asked for you to be escorted home…" _…my mother?_ She thought in shock, wondering who had answered. "…but it looks like the address given was the Motel 6 off of 3rd and Welsh."

"Yeah!" she said instantly. "We moved here a little early and the house isn't done. My parents are finishing up getting our stuff from the old house. Today was my first day here, actually."

The lies rolled off of her tongue much easier each time she had to give them. Each time, her nerves got to her less and less. The Sheriff took a moment to analyze her before nodding. "That's just about what they said too. Alright, I'll take you over there. I gotta drop off my miscreant anyway."

He nodded over to Stiles in which Maddie raised an eyebrow at the boy. Stiles seemed to hear all of this and gave his father an almost painful look.

What seemed like an eternity later, Maddie got into the passenger side seat of the police car. The reasoning behind this seemed to be "the frightened teenage girl is allowed to call shotgun as she doesn't have a history of trouble following her". Stiles groaned and got in the back of the wagon, knowing full well that the girl in front of him seemed to be the least frightened of all of them that night.

All the while, Sheriff Stilinski – as she learned his last name was – attempted to calm Maddie's nonexistent nerves. If anything, she was more confident than ever. Sure, her shoulder and side hurt like hell but she made it through the night. Allison didn't hate her and not only did she take the Alpha off its feet, she _lived_. The slayer withheld the smile that threatened to spread across her face.

"Did you need something to eat before we drop you off?"

"No…no, I'm fine. Really." That good feeling, unfortunately, came crashing down around her as she reached for her bag. Her bag. _Oh no. My bag._ The color drained from her face. She'd set down her bag in the cafeteria. "My bag!" Her head snapped over to the Sheriff, her eyes wide with horror. "I left my bag in the school!"

Sheriff Stilinski seemed placid as ever, not taking his eyes off the road. Although, Stiles hearing seemed to perk up. "We'll be searching the building tonight, top to bottom. I'll make sure we get your bag to you."

"No, but –" she started, her thoughts rushing around her in blurs. "I – I need it tonight! We have to go back! My…my wallet! And my homework! And…"

"Calm down, it's okay." The Sheriff glanced at her worriedly for less than a second as he stopped at a red light. "You're stuff will be fine. I promise."

"But…but…!" Alas, she couldn't form any good excuse. Her heart was beating rapidly at the prospect of the Sheriff's department searching her bag. Gods, she was beginning to hyperventilate. "…but…"

"Yeah, Mads!" Stiles chimed in, using a nickname reserved for only Maddie's closest confidantes. She turned her head slowly and threw at him the most menacing glare she could. Stiles seemed unusually used to this type of reaction and continued with a smug grin. "They'll get that to you, ASAP! It's not like you have something to be worried about, right?"

The look in the boy's eyes told Madeline that he knew something – or was at least suspecting something. Her darkened stare drilled into his as she took an even breath in and out. "…Right."

* * *

**A/N: FINALLY! The end of "Night School"! Sorry, that whole thing took forever. Also, sorry this took so long. I had Maid of Honor wedding stuff to do all week. That's over though and now I'm back and ready to introduce Maddie to the rest of the Argents! Then...what will happen in "Lunatic"? This is going to be horrible. XD**

*** = I think we're all aware that the only person who thinks Scott can subtly sniff for anything at this point in the show is _Scott_. **


	8. Chapter Seven: Den of Wolves

**Chapter Seven: Den of Wolves**

* * *

**A/N: Heyo! Sorry it's been a bit but this chapter was so hard to get through. Luckily I'm already a good portion into chapter eight, so fear not! Action will return! Now, hey, look! A flashback!**

* * *

_There were plenty of things thirteen year old Madeline Hayes hated about being a slayer. For one, there was headquarters, which was pretty much like Hogwarts in way – if Hogwarts replaced magic wands with stakes, boys with even more girls, and fun with strength, reflex, and strategy training. At least they spent a few years in a castle in Scotland; that was really where the similarities ended. _

"_You know, there's this saying…"_

_The second thing was the extremely inaccurate thought that there were ranks among the slayers – something that had been perpetuated by Kennedy, one of the older girls. There were no actual ranks. There were slayers and watchers. Sure, the slayers outnumbered the watchers by quite a bit. Hundreds for each one watcher in the early days. There was no way to keep up so some of the more experienced slayers began training. That didn't make them better than the others, though._

"…_by, I don't know, some old smart guy."_

_Third were the girls. There were too many of them. They giggled, they gossiped, they even pulled hair sometimes. And, as most would imagine, there were no such thing as cat fights among slayers. Slayers had a tendency to do real harm when they didn't like each other. Black eyes, broken ribs, shattered jaws, bruises by the dozens – these were regular occurrences and none of which Maddie had escaped with the mouth she had on her._

"_Know when to walk away and know when to run…"_

"_Buff, that's Kenny Rogers."_

"_The chicken guy?"_

"_No, that's Roy Rogers. Kenny Rogers was a country singer. You quoted a country song. About poker."_

_Last was the woman herself, Buffy Summers. Buffy was one part former homecoming queen and two parts war general. Maddie couldn't pinpoint which part she liked less. Perhaps she couldn't remember the woman who cheered her up when she cried in her bunk, knowing she'd never see her mother or father again. Perhaps that woman was gone. As they took in more slayers for training, Buffy grew more and more distant from all of them. Now, all she ever did was talk to Xander, Willow, or Dawn. If she did address a younger slayer, it was in training and in usually wasn't very nice. Maddie used to make excuses for her to the other slayers but she'd run out a long time ago. Now, she wore her abrasive personality like armor whenever the woman showed her face – which wasn't very often._

_Today, she was around. Today would not be pleasant. Maddie frowned at the blonde while folding her half-raised hands together in front of her and rolling her wrists. The woman was the only person she knew that she could meet at eye level, as everyone else was significantly taller, not that it mattered. Buffy hardly ever really looked her in the eye these days anyway._

"_Oh. Well, either way, it's good advice. That will be your lesson today – the difference between walking away to regroup or running because you've given up." Buffy threw a stake to the preteen girl as a few other girls watched in silence. The older slayer looked at Maddie, but not really. Buffy's worn, green eyes looked right through the young girl, as they always did with all of the girls. "We take breathers and we regroup. There's nothing wrong with that. But we do not run. We do not give up."_

_Buffy led Xander and the rest of the girls out of the room, leaving Maddie alone as a growl sounded behind her._

* * *

Maddie woke up Saturday morning tense and sore. It wasn't because of the earlier that week and her wounds. No, they had healed up nicely; there were hardly any marks left. No, she woke up sore because she had trained for the first time in days. As there was neither hide nor hair of a vampire yet, she used her patrolling time to train in the woods. She was used to training so much more often than that and it was beginning to bother her. Clearly even going a little while without it and pushing herself too hard to make up for it was not the best course of action. She liked it though; it was the one time she didn't have to think about her mission, her missing bag, or her sinking feeling over the suspicious residents of Beacon Hills. She frowned, thinking of her missing bag again. She'd sprinted back to the school the moment she'd been dropped off. It was gone – _really_ gone. She grimaced and shook the thought from her head.

Unfortunately, now was not the time to think of missing bags and training as she found herself walking down a friendly-looking neighborhood full of big, bright houses lining both sides of the street. It took more effort than she intended of course, as by Friday morning she found herself without a street address for Allison's house or a way to contact her. This would've been the perfect time for school not to be cancelled. This led to one and only one solution.

_Allison's number, what is it?_ **[Fri 5:02 PM]**

_**Stiles:**__ first off, hi is a good way to start a conversation. second, no. _**[Fri 5:06 PM]**

_No? What do you mean no? I need the number__**.**_** [Fri 5:07 PM]**

_**Stiles:**__ sorry but I don't give out my friend's info or my friend's ex gf's info to people I don't trust. so no. also I'm not actually sorry._** [Fri 5:16 PM]**

_I don't have time for this._ **[Fri 5:17 PM]**

_Stiles?_ **[Fri 5:42 PM]**

_Are you kidding me?_ **[Fri 6:34 PM]**

_You're the only person I know who can help me._ **[Fri 6:35 PM]**

_I know like…5 people here__**.**_** [Fri 6:35 PM]**

_I'm really new here. I wouldn't do this if I didn't absolutely NEED to._ **[Fri 6:36 PM]**

_This is the only number I have!_ **[Fri 6:36 PM]**

_I won't stop texting you._ **[Fri 6:37 PM]**

_At all. I'll keep going._** [Fri 6:38 PM]**

_I'm serious. I need you're help, damn it!_ **[Fri 6:39 PM]**

_Do you have unlimited texting?_ **[Fri 6:39 PM]**

_Because I just found out I do._** [Fri 6:39 PM]**

She was less than pleased that she'd sunken to such a desperate level but let it go almost immediately, as a text popped up simply giving a phone number. Nothing else, not another grating, sarcastic word – which was good, because her other option involved using her fists and she was sure that'd call unwanted attention. After a few minutes of staring at the number, she'd attempted to use it. To her relief, Allison had answered and after an awkward explanation of how she acquired the number and why, Maddie was given a street address.

Before she knew it, there she stood at the door of a moderately large home, finger twitching as it hovered over the doorbell. This was more than dinner, much more. It was a full evening of scrutinizing eyes and weighted questions. It was an interrogation and an interview all at once. She breathed slowly, evenly. Her finger twitched a little again and closed the gap to the doorbell. It's muffled chime rang in her ears and she waited.

Her nerves were shot. Her stomach was churning painfully.

The door swung open, but it wasn't Allison or her father who stood there before her. It was a woman; her dirty blonde hair hung in waves over her shoulders as her green eyes drilled holes through Maddie. She stood there, unmoving with her arm still blocking the entrance in an outfit that screamed Faith. The woman smiled but it wasn't a forced smile like Allison's father or a kind one like Allison's. It was wide and toothy, less like a smile and more like an animal baring its teeth. Maddie opened her mouth to speak, although it took several moments to find her voice. "…Hi, I'm – "

"Oh, I know who you are, sweetie." The older woman kept the same expression on her face, her tone coated in hostility. She looked back into the house. "Allison! Your friend's here!"

Finally, the unknown woman backed away from the door and gestured for Madeline to come in.

* * *

It was terrifying. There Maddie sat, in between Allison and Kate – the woman from earlier who had not gotten any friendlier in the twenty minutes they been sitting there. It was a shame though; if nothing else, Madeline had been looking forward to the home cooked meal. They were few and far between back at headquarters and even fewer here as she had taken to gaining any sustenance from fast food restaurants. Knowing that, she looked down at her food again and willed herself not to frown as she pushed around the mashed potatoes. The general feeling she got from the tall, red haired woman who made the food and had been staring holes through her was distrust. The feeling was indeed mutual. Maddie couldn't yet tell if the food was laced with poison or they were trying to fatten her up – either way she had the distinct notion that these people – save for Allison – were out to kill her. She'd felt more safe trapped in the school with the Alpha, to be quite honest.

Chris had started the conversation early on with less than subtle and slightly menacing hints, following this with intrusive questioning.

"What do your parents do?" he'd asked. She rambled on through about her mother being a self-defense trainer and her dad being a construction worker; she would certainly have to inform Xander of this.

Kate had thus far been full of nothing but false smiles and much more subtle snark. There was something very off about her and Maddie still felt unsafe simply sitting next to her. She even made sure to not let go of her fork for any reason, just as a precaution.

"Do you always walk around schools at night? Weird habit, don'tcha think?" Kate had asked, taking a sip of her drink that the slayer assumed had alcohol in it. Maddie pushed forward with her explanation, telling them all that she'd been in the area after taking a walk when she heard something 'weird' - glass breaking, to be specific.

Allison seemed to believe this. "I, um, heard that Stiles' battery got thrown through a window."

Maddie had nodded in silent confirmation, not wanting to divulge any more than she had to.

Chris and Victoria – the woman with the short red hair, the scowl, and the piercing blue eyes that seemed to see right through Madeline – exchanged a look. Victoria hadn't said a word to Maddie directly; she'd only studied her. This made the slayer even more uneasy than the questioning.

It was as if she was actually in a wolf's den and the irony of that was not lost on her one bit.

Victoria was looking at her again. Maddie frowned, shrinking down a little as she took a bite of her roast beef. Although it did not kill her, it was now cold. She managed a smile as she looked up at Allison's mother. "This is really good."

It couldn't have sounded more forced if she tried. The woman gave a tight-lipped smile. Minutes dragged on and on as Maddie ate much quicker. She was more than ready to get out of there; this had to be the most uncomfortable meal she ever had.

Allison did her best to fill in the silence and Madeline tried to do the same. After all, they were supposed to be _friends_, weren't they? They managed a few light, amiable chats and even a laugh here and there. Maddie still didn't get most of the jokes but obliged nonetheless.

Of all of this, it still was not what stuck out the most in the grueling evening she was having. No, it was only when Allison's mother stood and announced she needed help cleaning up that things had gotten much more interesting. Maddie, not subtle in the least, jolted up. "I can help!"

Allison gave her an odd look when she spoke. "You really don't have to do that…"

"It's no problem. It's the least I can do," Maddie replied quickly with a polite smile.

Chris took a drink before gesturing to the young slayer with his own almost patronizing grin to his sister. "See that? A well-mannered teenager. Doesn't happen every day, now does it?"

Allison rolled her eyes as Kate replied, "Teenagers aren't _supposed_ to be well mannered, Chris. They're _teenagers_."

Maddie hadn't caught the rest of the conversation as she followed Victoria into the kitchen, both of them with dishes in hand. The door swung closed behind them and the petite teenager gaped at the spacious and pristine room she'd just entered. Of course, the whole house – or at least the rooms she'd been allowed to see – was magnificent to say the least but then again she'd hardly ever lived in places she would ever describe with words like 'spacious' or 'pristine'. She remained distracted as she set the plates and glasses down by the sink which seemed to be a trigger for whatever emotions had been pent up in Victoria for the whole of the night. The older woman darted her alarmingly blue eyes to Maddie, her gaze startling the girl.

"Who do you think you are?" came the woman's low, snarling voice.

This caught Madeline off guard as her own dark eyes widened. As her brows furrowed, she gave herself an extra moment before speaking. "Wait, what?"

"You know very well what I just said." Victoria turned her attention away, sorting the dishes into neat piles of similar pieces. "Now, as I understand it, your organization runs itself. You must be used to not expecting orders by now."

"Okay, hold on –"

"And speaking out of turn," she promptly cut the young girl off, a sharp edge in her tone. Her head shot over to Madeline once more, examining her. Maddie looked down and noted that the woman now had a steak knife wrapped tightly in her hand. "You're superiors must not have thought that it would be responsible and courteous of them to send you straight to us, not our daughter. I understand you and your…people do things on your own terms these days but I will not have you acting without our knowledge again. You are under our employ and I expect you to treat us as such."

Madeline felt her jaw drop as she stared disbelievingly at the older woman. She momentarily looked down at herself, examining the back her hands. Aside from the few scars, she knew there was a very clear difference between her and everyone else in that house. A short, mirthless laugh escaped her as she glanced back up. "I'm sorry – not to make things…_more_ uncomfortable, but did you really just say 'my _people_'?"

"Vampire Slayers," Victoria spat out with a prominent frown stretching across her face and narrowing eyes. "Do _attempt_ to take this seriously."

"Who said I wasn't?" Maddie shrugged.

_**SLAM.**_Victoria drove the knife down into the wooden cutting board in front of her, causing Madeline to slightly jump. "Then act like it." She turned her entire body in the direction of the slayer. "You listen to me. You are going to leave my house, take each and every one of our orders, and protect Allison. You will utilize every effort to make sure she's safe – and you will not, under _any_ circumstances, allow her to find out what you are. Do you understand?"

Maddie gave a short, silent nod.

"_Yes or no_," the red head added sharply through gritted teeth.

Madeline drew in a shaky breath, watching the woman with a firm stare. Something about her seemed more dangerous now than either of the adults in the dining room – like that of the proud lion she resembled in the picture the slayer had been given. In a house full of human beings, Maddie had never in her life felt more unsafe and she was suddenly sure it would not be the last time. "…yes."


End file.
